Joy, Captured

by Sriram Sabhapathy

Sriram’s photo essay outlines three instances of profound joy that he saw in his travels.

Joy is posing

For children who don’t – yet – have the luxury of clicking a selfie or a photograph, joy is being able to see their own image on a micro-screen.

I was on road across smaller towns of Tamil Nadu for a couple of weeks. At almost every place I stopped, there was a group of young children who would come and stand around my camera, fascinated by what it does. The next thing they would ask for is a photo of theirs. And in between clicking their serious poses, when you show them what has been clicked, you’ll end up finding a moment like this. They were always at their happiest after I showed them an image of theirs 🙂

Joy is a good old friend

For many senior citizens in India, a visit to the temple is almost a daily activity. While some seek peaceful and healthy times for the years ahead, others reflect on the years behind. In any case, it brings a certain anchoring in their lives and adds a sense of social activity which is anticipated and enjoyed.

No matter what the pursuit, a visit to the temple brings joy, especially so when there is a sense of familiar comfort shared with an old friend. A moment to sit on the stone ground, sharing thoughts from the mundane to profound, realising a moment of calm with a friend. What better place than a temple praharam, for two madisar maamis (elderly women draped in a saree styled the traditional Tamil Brahmin way) to hang out!

Joy is a Cambodian dream

Text by Niveditha Viswanathan

Theirs is an innocence seized by reality. Bliss seized by the need to survive. And childhood seized by the ways of the world, too soon. A new generation, born at the cusp of a new era for Cambodia. They are oblivious to the history that bore them. Harsh realities of their forefathers are but a hazy memory in their history text.

These are kids who have no distinct phases of childhood or adulthood. No demarcation of being careless and carefree, before turning the corner to hit the cautious expectation of adulthood. They are born into the pressing need for commerce. They are borne to meet the need to get cash home, as much as for meeting the innate need to procreate. In their world, a dollar brings home everything. Food. Clothing. Transport. Schooling. Not to mention even physical contact. Everything is printed in green, engulfed in the power of a dollar note. A Cambodian dream is measured in units of the American dollar. And every smile is the distillation of the need for that dollar note.

This is a country filled with smiles; on every face you see. These smiles flash at you in the hopes of luring you to detach a dollar from your pouch and hand it over. These smiles are conscious of the fact that your everyday life offers you much to worry about; and you are there to taste your drop of bliss. These smiles offer you the ticket to buy yourself a dollar worth of happiness.

These smiles are warm enough to make you smile back. And deep enough to make you think. About the eternal ability and resilience of the human mind. To survive, to heal, to look forward, to hope, and to dream. And to flash a warm and welcoming smile above all.

Sriram is a freelance photographer based out of Bangalore.  His approach to photography is very documentary and real in nature, working with available light and capturing stories in the most honest manner possible. With a background in Economics and Business, and having worked for over a decade with consulting and education organisations, Sriram started pursuing photography full time recently. You can check out more of his work atwww.sriramsabhapathy.com)